Has the need for Negative Emissions refocussed attention on Geoengineering the planet? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/04/paris-climate-change-agreement-enters-into-force
What is geoengineering? Large scale intervention in Earth’s climate By Removing and storing Carbon Dioxide And/or Decreasing incoming solar radiation Sydney Morning Herald
A resurgence in interest is reflected by a proliferation of articles in 2017 A View from Janos Pasztor Rules for Geoengineering the Planet We have to at least consider geoengineering. And that’s where the problems start. • April 25, 2017 MIT Technology Review The ethics issue: Should we geoengineer the planet? https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531331-200-the- ethics-issue-should-we-geoengineer-the-planet/ New Scientist July 2017 Also Financial Times, Christian Science Monitor, New Yorker, UK Guardian……………………..
In many countries researchers are developing a disparate range of approaches to this topic Sustainable Energy Geoengineering Research Governance Project Harvard Scientists Moving Ahead on Plans for (GRGP) Oxford Workshop on a Code of Conduct Atmospheric Geoengineering Experiments for Responsible Geoengineering Research – The climate researchers intend to launch a high-altitude Anna-Maria Hubert balloon that would spray a small quantity of reflective July 3, 2017 particles into the stratosphere. Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford on MIT Technology Review March 2017 21-23 June 2017.
The debate is not just at a global level but also regional, and aimed at other problem-solving !! Scientists Consider Brighter Clouds to Preserve the Great Barrier Reef As bleaching devastates the critical ecosystem for a second year in a row, marine scientists are getting Nature June 2017 desperate. MIT Technology Review April 2017
How should we proceed? Utility of Natural Events of sufficient scale to inform us of the benefits and challenges of geoengineering Pinatubo led to global cooling of ~1C https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/1997/fs113-97/resources/AshCloud.jpg Boyd (2016)
“Geopolitically, it raises the pressing issue of how a sole event rapidly becomes a globally distributed signature that alters key planetary services such as the water cycle in a regionally uneven manner .” Boyd (2016)
Can geoengineering contribute to negative emissions? Some geoengineering is already ‘embedded’ within IPCC model runs For 2C warming or less It has potential as a partial solution to restricting warming to 1.5C International governance on research is an essential first step In the interim, natural events, that are comparable to proposed climate intervention, are powerful underused tools to explore it large scale long term effects on the planet
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